New Zealand's Waikato, Ruapehu Officially in Drought

NZ Herald

New Zealand's Waikato, Ruapehu Officially in Drought
By Paul Harper
11:52 AM Wednesday Dec 15, 2010

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/droughts/news/article.cfm?c_id=180&objectid=10694454

Agriculture Minister David Carter has told Waikato farmers this morning the region is officially in a drought. Photo / Christine Cornege



Agriculture Minister David Carter has declared a drought in the Waikato and Ruapehu District, saying recent rainfalls appear to have had little effect on dry pastures.

The two areas have been designated medium-level drought zones, allowing funding for local Rural Support Trusts to be increased and farm management advice and welfare support to be provided.

Mr Carter's announcement followed weeks of minimal rain that has had little impact on soil moisture deficits.

Mr Carter visited farms near Hamilton today with Waikato Federated Farmers Waikato president Stewart Wadey.

"Many farmers I spoke to today are comparing this early dry to 2007-2008 when drought stripped the national economy of $2.8 billion, with Waikato the worst-affected region," Mr Carter said.

"The sheer size of the economic impact of drought reflects just how important the primary sector is to New Zealand."

Mr Wadey said some parts of the Waikato had received 1-9mm of rainfall, however 120-130mm was required to address the moisture deficit.

The last time Hamilton received more than 10mm of rain was October 14.

The lack of rain meant pasture and silage planted by farmers had not sprouted, Mr Wadey said.

"We've had less than 50 per cent silage supplement making in the Waikato," he said, adding he had been unable to make hay on his own Matamata farm.

Mr Wadey said rain expected later in the week was not likely to be adequate.

"We will get rain, but not of the type of fronts to give up to 25-30mm every other day," he said.

"Things are certainly building up in front of us - if we don't get significant rainfall in the next 10 days we will have a severe situation in the Waikato."

Mr Wadey said the drought would affect the local service industry and the region's towns.

With 70 per cent of New Zealand's milk herd in the Waikato, Mr Wadey said the region's farming problems will affect the country's economic outlook.

"Certainly in the Waikato we are looking very sick," he said. "It will drastically impact export receipts - that was not expected by the Government in their forecasts."

Mr Carter said the situation was particularly hard for farmers who had endured back-to-back droughts.

"This puts pressure on the whole rural community, and I urge those affected to seek advice from their local Rural Support Trust. Making the hard decisions on stocking rates and feed levels can make all the difference in getting through a drought."

Mr Carter said with extreme weather patterns increasing, farmers need to plan more for drought recovery and familiarise themselves with the support available for adverse events.

Soaking 'Cancels' (Australia's) Qld's Fire Season

Soaking 'Cancels' Qld's Fire Season

By Kathy Marks of the New Zealand Herals
5:30 AM Tuesday Dec 28, 2010

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10696792

The east braces for more rain while the west swelters. Photo / Getty Images


It might be hard for flood-weary Queenslanders to appreciate, but the drenching the state received in recent months means the risk of bushfires this summer is virtually zero.

As Queensland braced itself for another soaking yesterday, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the flip side of the torrential downpours - which have caused widespread flooding - was the low fire risk.

"The bushfire season has effectively been cancelled, because of how sodden the state is and has been for a long time," he said.

The rest of the country, though, particularly southern regions and drought-plagued Western Australia, still faces a heightened bushfire threat.

With temperatures of 40C forecast for Perth yesterday, a total fire ban was declared for the city and its surrounds, amid warnings of a severe bushfire danger.

The temperature reached 39.9C in Perth on Christmas Day and the forecast for the rest of the week is for temperatures in the low to mid-30s.

That Australia is a land of extremes was highlighted by the snow that fell overnight on Mt Wellington, on the outskirts of the Tasmanian capital, Hobart.

Although the city itself was somewhat warmer, yesterday's forecast high was only 15C - a world away from the baking cauldron of Perth.

The southwest of Western Australia, which has received minuscule rainfall, will be the nation's bushfire flashpoint this summer, forecasters say.

"The drought hasn't broken in that part of the country whatsoever, and the conditions created by that extended and pronounced period of aridity put it at extreme risk," said the Bureau of Meteorology spokesman.

In Queensland towns such as Chinchilla, in the state's southern inland, residents have different concerns.

Chinchilla was cut off yesterday after more than 100mm of rain was dumped on the town overnight, flooding the Warrego Highway in both directions.

Homes were evacuated and dozens of businesses were forced toclose.

In Theodore, west of Bundaberg, authorities have evacuated low-lying homes, the hospital and the retirement home as the swollen Dawson River rises.

While northern Queensland - the first region to be hit by ex-tropical cyclone Tasha - also received another 100mm of rain, the floodwaters were receding yesterday.

The townsfolk of Ingham, which had been cut off, breathed a sigh of relief after the Bruce Highway reopened in both directions.

Tasha, which was downgraded to a low after making landfall south of Cairns at the weekend, was moving across southern inland areas of the state yesterday.

Parts of central-western New South Wales were also affected, with two dozen properties evacuated after flash floods.

Climate Change Could Push Staple Food Prices Up 130%

Climate Change Could Push Staple Food Prices Up 130% – study

Report warning comes as many countries fear instability caused by rising food prices and shortages

Suzanne Goldberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 December 2010 21.42 GMT

Zambian farmer Amelia Nyundo in a field of maize which failed to grow due to drought: Maize shortages in sub-Saharan Africa could push prices up. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Climate change could lead to shortages and punishing 130% price rises in staple foods within our lifetime, raising the spectre of riots and civil unrest, a new study warned today.

The report, by the International Food Policy Research Institute, warned that warming of even one degree by 2050 could play havoc with food production – with hotter, wetter temperatures cutting crop yields.

With a global population of 9 billion forecasted by the middle of the century, the effects of lower crop yields could be devastating – especially if income growth faltered in developing countries, the report warned.

This year's drought and wildfires in Russia and the massive floods in Pakistan provided a window into a future of extreme weather conditions.

So did the food unrest of the last few years.

"The food price spikes of 2008 and 2010 both had important weather components," Gerald Nelson the report's co-author said.

In the world's poorest countries, average calorie intake would fall significantly, even by 2025. By the middle of this century, child malnutrition could rise by 18%.

"Reducing emissions growth to minimise the effects of climate change is thus essential to avoid a calamitous post-2050 future," the report said.

In a worst-case scenario, the study forecast the price of maize – a staple in sub-Saharan Africa – could go up by 130%. That's 34% higher than in a world without climate change, it said. Rice prices could rise by as much as 78%, and wheat by 67%.

Rice and wheat production would fall across the globe. But in a conference call with reporters, Nelson said sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia would likely suffer most under climate change.

However, even the American midwest would see poorer harvests because of hotter, drier weather patterns. "The corn belt in the United States has serious production losses," he said.

The study is relatively rare in forecasting severe and far-reaching consequences of climate change by 2050 – a time period within the lifetime of most people alive today – rather than the end of the 21st century.

It produced 15 different scenarios of the world in 2050, combining different rates of income and population growth with various climate outcomes,

It also called for warming caused by agriculture – thought to be responsible for about 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions – to be reduced as well as the adoption of a carbon-negative agriculture target by 2050.

Pollution means China's thirst can't be quenched – no matter what is spent

Pollution means China's thirst can't be quenched – no matter what is spent


Jonathan Watts Friday 9 July 2010 17.30 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jul/09/china-yangtze-diversion-pollution

The Baoying Pumping Station in Yangzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province is one of more than 30 pumping stations to be constructed in the province as part of China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project. Claro Cortes/Reuters

A 50-year plan to divert the course of the Yangtze, Asia's mightiest river - to solve droughts and shortages is falling foul of costly pollution clean-up plans

China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project : The Baoying Pumping Station In Yangzhou The Baoying Pumping Station in Yangzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province is one of more than 30 pumping stations to be constructed in the province as part of China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project. Claro Cortes/Reuters

China's biggest hydro-engineering project – the £39bn South-North Water Diversion Project, is so contaminated by pollution despite the construction of more than 400 expensive treatment plants that water remains barely usable even after treatment, reports revealed this week.

California Urges Tunnel System for Delta

California Urges Tunnel System for Delta



latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-tunnel-20101216,0,4140245.story
latimes.com

The $13-billion project would carry water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River estuary to southbound aqueducts. Environmental groups assail the plan.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 16, 2010

State officials Wednesday recommended construction of a $13-billion tunnel system that would carry water under the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to southbound aqueducts, a project that would replumb a perpetual bottleneck in California's vast water delivery network.

The proposal is far from final. It faces a new administration, lengthy environmental reviews and controversy over how much water should be exported from the Northern California estuary system that serves as a conduit for water shipments to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The earliest completion date would be 2022.

The tunnel plan is a variation of an idea that has been around for decades. Voters in 1982 killed a proposal to route water around the delta in a canal. But talk of a bypass has resurfaced as endangered species protections in recent years have forced cutbacks in pumping from the south delta.

Some water would still be pumped from the south under the new proposal, but the bulk would be drawn from the Sacramento River as it enters the north delta. The water would then be carried by two huge tunnels, 150 feet deep, to the federal and state aqueducts.

Some delta advocates remain staunchly opposed to the concept. But there is growing agreement that changing diversion points could lessen the environmental impacts of pumping and that a tunnel would not be as vulnerable to earthquake damage as a canal bypass or the existing pumping operations.

The project, which would be accompanied by $3.3-billion worth of habitat restoration over 50 years, is part of an ambitious multi-agency program intended to resolve the conflict that has enveloped the delta for decades.

Reaction to the state recommendations, which the Obama administration generally endorsed, underscored how difficult it may be to achieve a delta truce. Environmental groups assailed the planning report as "flawed, incomplete and disappointing." And the largest irrigation district in California already pulled its support of the plan, suspecting that it would not restore its water supplies.

Of particular contention to environmentalists are the size of the tunnel system and the operating rules that would determine the volume of diversions.

California Natural Resources Secretary Lester Snow said Wednesday that annual delta exports under the project could average 5.4 to 5.9 million acre-feet, more than allowed under current environmental restrictions — and considerably more than environmentalists and some fish biologists say the delta ecosystem can withstand if it is to make any sort of recovery.

Critics said there were too many unsettled issues to make such a projection, and they accused federal and state officials of pandering to the agricultural and urban water agencies that would pay for the tunnel system.

Officials "know the assertions that they're making aren't true," said Gary Bobker of the Bay Institute, one of the environmental groups participating in the delta program. "They know that the amount of water that we're going to be able to export from the delta in the future is probably not going to be the kind of numbers the [plan] is talking about."

Last month, the giant Westlands Water District said it was pulling out of the delta program because it didn't think the project would live up to its promise of restoring delta exports, which had reached record levels before the recent drought and endangered species cutbacks of the last two years.

"We cannot justify the expenditure of billions of dollars for a program that is unlikely to restore our water supply," Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham said Wednesday.

He added that the state plans and statements by the U.S. Interior Department that the project could increase deliveries were a good sign.

"What Interior said today is encouraging. But whether Westlands reverses its position or decision is going to be determined by what Interior does, as opposed to what it says."

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-storms-20101224,0,592116.story

Southern California laid miles of pipe and tunneled through mountains to import water. But it also built a storm drain system to quickly get rid of rainfall. The contradiction played out again this week.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 24, 2010

It is one of the Southland's enduring contradictions. The region that laid pipe across hundreds of miles and tunneled through mountains to import water also built an extensive storm drain system to get rid of rainfall as quickly as possible.

That's exactly what happened during the last week, when tens of billions of gallons of runoff that could lessen the region's need for those faraway sources were dumped into the Pacific. Enough water poured from Los Angeles streets to supply well over 130,000 homes for a year.

As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures, all that runoff sheeting across sidewalks and roads into the maws of storm drains is finally getting some respect.

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"This isn't wastewater until we waste it," said Noah Garrison, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who co-wrote a 2009 paper on capturing and reusing storm water.

The report concluded that the region could increase local supplies by an amount equal to more than half of Los Angeles' annual water demand by incorporating relatively simple water-harvesting techniques in new construction and redevelopments. These include installing cisterns and designing landscaping to retain runoff and let it seep into the ground.

Los Angeles is poised to adopt an ordinance that takes a step in that direction. Most new and redeveloped commercial, industrial and larger apartment projects would have to be designed to capture the runoff generated by the first three-quarters of an inch of rain. New single-family homes would have to install a rain-harvesting device, such as a rain barrel or a hose that diverts water from gutters to landscaping.

But the proposed rules would save only a fraction of the city's runoff. "If we're able to convince people to do it on their own, there's so much more" that can be captured, said Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels. "The really important thing to do is unpave and change the texture of Los Angeles."

Water-quality regulations, which are clamping down on runoff pollution, are another big impetus for changing attitudes. In South Los Angeles, the city is converting a former bus depot into a nine-acre wetland park that will retain and filter runoff, keeping contaminants out of the L.A. River.

"I believe we will be able to start changing the footprint of the city to make it more water-friendly and hopefully look at storm water as a resource and a benefit," said Adel H. Hagekhalil, assistant director of the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation.

The storm system dumped copious amounts of snow — at least 10 to 12 feet and in some spots far more — in the Sierra Nevada, washing away vestiges of a three-year drought that ended last year. Statewide, 61% of the snowpack, or snow water content, normally measured on April 1 is already on the ground. Storage at most major reservoirs is well above average for this time of year. Dam operators have been releasing water to make sure they have enough space for inflow later in the season.

Managers are cautioning that snow and rain usually taper off in early winter under the La Niña weather conditions expected this year. "The characteristics, unfortunately, of La Niñas are generally a pretty good start and then a frequent lapse. Quite often January, February do not measure up," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program.

But even if they don't, state hydrologist Maury Roos said California has been so thoroughly soaked this month that the year's water supplies will probably be above average.

In the Eastern Sierra, which supplies Los Angeles with a portion of its water, some Department of Water and Power stations have registered eye-popping measurements. At Independence, precipitation as of Tuesday was 549% of the norm for this time of year. Some areas were buried under snow depths usually not seen until the end of the winter.

James McDaniel, the DWP's senior assistant general manager, said the snowpack at Mammoth Pass had shot up to the levels of 1982-83, one of California's wettest winters. "We'll need more storms later in the season to build on that," he said, adding: "There's no denying this is a great beginning to the season."

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River, is refilling local reserves that had dwindled to levels that forced the agency to cut sales to member agencies.

"I think we're feeling a lot more comfortable about the availability of water supplies," said Debra Man, the MWD's assistant general manager. Still, she said the agency was not ready to scratch allocations that have reduced demand by more than 20%. "I think we're going to wait and see what January, February and March look like."

McDaniel also said L.A. would wait until winter's end before deciding if it would lift the water rationing imposed during the three-year drought. "Statewide storage has recovered well," he said. "But the piece of the puzzle that is not where we'd like to see it is the Colorado River," a source stuck in a long-term drought.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

Mexico, US Agree on Colorado River Allotments

From Denver.com

Mexico, US agree on Colorado River allotments
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/20/2010 04:19:31 PM MST
Updated: 12/20/2010 04:20:48 PM MST


MEXICO CITY—U.S. and Mexican officials reached a deal Monday for Mexico to defer part of its water allotment from the Colorado River until 2014 while farmers in the Mexicali area repair irrigation networks damaged by an earthquake this year.

Under the agreement, Mexico can defer delivery of up to 260,000 acre-feet of water through 2013 and then seek to recover that in the following three years, when its canals will be better able to handle the load.

Mexico's annual allotment under a 1944 treaty is 1.5 million acre-feet, a measurement equal to the amount of water needed to flood an acre one foot deep.

The agreement was announced in a meeting between Mexican Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar said the two nations want to negotiate a full management plan for the Colorado River in 2011.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor said a comprehensive management agreement "is of particular importance in light of ongoing, historic drought in the Colorado River Basin," where reservoirs have dropped from nearly full levels in 2000 to approximately 55 percent of capacity.

He said that if current drought conditions persist, states like Arizona, California and Nevada may be subject to shortages as early as 2012.

The magnitude-7.2 earthquake on April 4 killed two people and damaged Mexican farm villages near the California border.


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Department of the Interior Reverses George W. Bush-Era Wilderness Polic

From Denverpost.com

Denver and the west

Interior reverses Bush-era wilderness policy

By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/24/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/24/2010 09:09:37 AM MST

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar watches geese fly overhead Thursday outside REI's flagship Denver store as BLM Director Bob Abbey speaks about a new policy that will allow the agency to protect pristine areas as "wild lands." (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday gave the Bureau of Land Management the power to designate tens of millions of acres as "wild lands" — a new categorization that could dramatically alter future decisions on everything from mining and drilling to off-roading.

Salazar, who announced his order in Denver's Central Platte Valley, said the new policy will supersede a 2003 out-of-court settlement that came to be known as "no more wilderness." Agreed to by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton, that settlement removed federal protections on 2.6 million acres of public land in Utah, and the resulting policy left millions of other backcountry acres vulnerable to development, Salazar said.

"That is simply unacceptable," Salazar said, flanked outside the REI flagship store in Denver by members of his staff, conservationists and even an executive from a leading outdoor-gear manufacturer.

Salazar insisted his new policy, which should be in place within 60 days, does not mean that any of the 245 million acres controlled by the BLM land will be "locked up" and barred from development. Instead, he said, the "wilderness characteristics" of each parcel will be among the factors considered as the federal government determines the best use of a particular piece of land.

He said it would protect pristine wildlands while allowing a "common sense" approach to decisions on such matters as oil and gas drilling.

"There will be oil and gas that will continue to be developed," Salazar said.

He and supporters framed the argument in simple terms: as a policy needed to protect backcountry areas and to consider their unique wilderness characteristics as land-use plans are formulated.

"These landscapes are our Sistine Chapel, our Mona Lisa, our David," said Peter Metcalf, head of Black Diamond Equipment.

He and others touted the policy as a way to preserve jobs in hunting, fishing, hiking and climbing.

Whit Fosburgh, head of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said 13 million Americans hunt and 33 million fish, and the result is 900,000 jobs.

"These are jobs that are here forever," Fosburgh said.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry and the Colorado Oil & Gas Association had no immediate comment on the new order and did not return phone calls seeking reaction. However, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the Congressional Western Caucus, denounced the action as "little more than an early Christmas present to the far left extremists who oppose the multiple use of our nation's public lands."

Salazar's order will not create new wilderness areas — a designation that can be approved or changed only by Congress under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The new policy also will not affect the management of lands being considered for wilderness designation.

Instead, it will call for the BLM to update its existing inventory of federal land and designate areas that have "wilderness characteristics" as "wild lands."

The Wilderness Act outlines the specific characteristics that can be considered, including the size of an area, opportunities for solitude, and ecological or geological features.

Salazar said the BLM can institute the new policy under existing federal law.

The designation of a particular area as a "wild land" would mean that the wilderness considerations would be "on the same platform" as other factors when decisions are made about what uses to allow, Salazar said.

"The bottom line is land with wilderness characteristics will have a significant place at the table," Salazar said.

Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com


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Time to Quench Landscape's Thirst on Colorado's Dry Front Range

From the Denver Post

Denver and the west

It wasn't frosty in Denver, but that's still a snowman that Harper Grace Elmini, 2 1/2, has her hands on Thursday. Harper and her parents traveled from Florida to Denver to visit her grandfather, Vin Elmini, for Christmas, and he was determined that it would be a white one. So he went to great lengths to find some snow for his front yard. Harper accessorized the snowman they made and up with a name: Joe. Read Bill Johnson's column on how Vin brought a snowman to snow-starved Denver. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Travis Ireland of Denver Parks and Recreation waters trees Thursday at Observatory Park. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Although mountains are blanketed in heavy snow, the Front Range is bone dry, suffering through what the Federal Climate Center designates as a moderate drought. So while you're planning your holiday fêtes, serve up one of your drinks with a hose, instead of a glass.

"In my memory, this is as dry as I've ever seen between October and mid-December," says Carl Wilson, Colorado State University Extension horticulturist. "It's been pitiful. I've dug down 12 inches in several places without finding moisture."

Denver has received 1 inch of precipitation since October, making it one of the driest fall seasons on record. That, coupled with warm temperatures and wind, has created conditions that have experts urging us to water landscapes.

"Basically, all landscape plants need water to keep them from drying out," says Kelly Gouge, manager with Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care. "A lack of moisture means twigs or branches die and trees get brittle. Instead of bending or being flexible, they break."

Drought conditions have landscapers scrambling to give trees a drink. City of Denver forestry workers have quenched nearly 800 trees with 37,500 gallons of water over the past two weeks.

"Trees need watering, but because most of their roots are in the top 6 to 12 inches of the soil, you don't have to water to China," said Gouge, a member of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, adding that efficient watering starts in the grass.

"Water your lawn, and you're watering trees too," says Tony Koski, Colorado State University Extension turf specialist. "Lawns will come out of winter healthier, with fewer weed problems. But the critical ones needing moisture are those that are new. If it was sodded or seeded-in after early September, water it."

Yards with lawn mites also need water, says Koski, especially now. "On these warm days, mites get active and pretty frisky. This means their populations start rising. Watering now helps break that reproduction cycle, preventing disaster later."

Water monthly through March if the weather stays dry. In general, landscapes need an inch of water per month, so people should record snowfall at their residence and add it up every four weeks. Anything less than 12 inches of snow means extra water is required.

Tips for winter watering

• Water when temperatures are above 45 degrees and there's no snow on the ground.

• Apply water slowly. Use a timer to remind you when to move the hose. To water shrubs and trees, using a 5-gallon bucket with holes punched near the bottom can help you gauge the amount of water.

• Give trees 10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter. To determine diameter, measure across the trunk at about chest height.

• Soak an area 2 to 3 feet wide on either side of the dripline of trees.

• Shrubs planted less than a year ago need 5 gallons twice monthly; established shrubs need less.

Read more: Time to quench landscape's thirst on Colorado's dry Front Range - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16933881#ixzz19CUhYg2w
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Environmental news from California and beyond - Greywater Report looks at Wastewater's Potential

LA Times

Environment

Environmental news from California and beyond

Greywater Report looks at Wastewater's Potential

November 23, 2010

About 50% of the water used inside U.S. homes can be reused to irrigate landscapes and flush toilets, according to a greywater report released by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute last week. The Overview of Greywater Reuse examined the application of greywater systems worldwide to determine how the wastewater generated from sinks, baths, showers and clothes washers could be reused to reduce demand for more costly, high-quality drinking water.

"In California, there are a lot of reasons why we're looking for new and innovative water sources, including the legal restrictions that are coming to bear on our ability to move water around the state," said Juliet Christian-Smith, senior research associate at the Oakland-based research institute. "Climactic changes are occurring.... We are looking at a future with less of a natural reservoir in our snow in the Sierras and less water available from the Colorado River system."
In 2009, California modified its plumbing code to allow the reuse of certain types of gray water. The Pacific Institute was interested in examining how that change might affect the state and aid its development of a "soft path of water management."
"The 20th century was dominated by a paradigm of water supply and water extraction which focused on large-scale centralized resources like reservoirs, canals and pipelines that have been very successful at moving water and providing a higher standard of living but also come with social, environmental, energy and economic costs that weren't apparent from the beginning," said Christian-Smith. "As we move into the 21st century, we're starting to think about other options ... such as demand management -- conservation and efficiency -- and to look at new technologies that reuse water."

Australia is the most progressive country in terms of gray water policy. The government for this drought-prone continent not only promotes gray water reuse but provides monetary incentives for systems that recycle wastewater from showers and sinks to flush toilets and irrigate outdoor plants. Korea, Cyprus, Japan and Germany are also at the forefront of gray water technology implementation.
While there is no national policy in the U.S. regarding gray water, about 30 of the 50 states have some sort of gray water regulation, some of which require treatment of the wastewater before its reuse. Other states, including Arizona and California, use a landscape's soil as a natural filter to reduce potential contaminants.

According to the report, which cited a study conducted in Barcelona, Spain, this year, factors determining public acceptance of gray water include a perceived health risk, perceived cost, operation regime and environmental awareness.
The Overview of Greywater Reuse is a starting point, Christian-Smith said, to "a larger project that will start to outline supportive and protective instruments" for understanding the long-term impacts of gray water reuse.

LA Times Editorial: Don't Drill, Baby!

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-anwr-20101124,0,2720419.story


Los Angeles Times.com

Editorial

Don't drill, baby!

President Obama should designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a national monument, ending the battle over oil exploration there.
November 24, 2010
Right about now in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, dozens of pregnant female polar bears are preparing to give birth in dens they dug into the snowdrifts last month, unaware that the fate of their home, and possibly their species, hinges on the price of gasoline. The Obama administration can and should change that.

Big Oil and its congressional allies have been mounting attempts to open the refuge to oil and gas development since the 1970s. There is no immediate danger that they'll succeed. Although the GOP electoral landslide this month ended Democratic control of the House and produced an incoming class of congressional freshman who are ardently pro-drilling, the Senate is still controlled by Democrats who oppose opening the refuge. More important, gas prices have been stable for more than a year. But should they spike — which is likely to happen if the economy significantly improves — the false perception that we could drill our way out of the problem would increase public support for opening the refuge, pressuring centrist Democrats to change their stance.

This is why half the members of the Senate (all of them Democrats except Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut) sent a letter to President Obama last week urging him to grant the "strongest possible" federal protection to the refuge, thus ending the perennial battles over drilling. Several environmental groups have joined in, urging Obama to designate the land as a national monument, which would prohibit most forms of development.


The refuge is a diverse and extremely fragile ecosystem that teems with animals, such as the Porcupine caribou and muskoxen, that would be seriously harmed by drilling activities. It is thought to be the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears, a threatened species, in the United States. Oil development would bring road and pipeline construction, noise and pollution, and spills would be deadly to local wildlife. And drilling would have little impact on oil prices. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that output from the refuge could reduce the world oil price by just 75 cents a barrel in 2025 (crude is currently trading at about $81 a barrel, and such a small decrease would be next to meaningless at the pump). Moreover, OPEC would be able to wipe out any savings simply by restricting its supplies. Oil companies would certainly profit from the opportunity to drill, but consumers probably would not.

A monument designation by Obama would most likely lead to a legal battle, because it's not clear whether federal lands available for state use in Alaska can be withdrawn without congressional approval. But that's a fight well worth having. The refuge is a threatened treasure that must be guarded.

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

BBC: India's Global Warming Fears Floods in West Bengal Was This Caused by Global Warming?

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1037114.stm
India's global warming fears: Floods in West Bengal
Was this caused by global warming?

By Jill McGivering in Delhi

In India, weather-related natural disasters already cause annual chaos.

Two months ago, whole regions of West Bengal disappeared under water - rescue workers had to use boats to give emergency help to more than 16 million affected people.

These were the worst floods for more than 20 years.


One of the problems is that these models are sometimes converted into scary stories which is something we shouldn't fall for

Dr RR Kelkar
Several factors were blamed - from silted riverbeds to mismanagement of resources. But could global warming also have played a part?

Journalist Nirmal Ghosh firmly believes global warming is going to cause far more chaos across India in the future.

"Global warming is going to make other small local environmental issues... seem like peanuts, because it is the big one which is going to come and completely change the face of the Earth.

"We're talking about mass migrations because of changing weather. That will have implications on politics. There are states in India which are fighting court cases over water," Mr Ghosh says.

Shrinking glaciers

As well as floods, India also suffers acute water shortages - earlier this year the western state of Rajasthan was struck by drought.

Nirmal Ghosh says the steady shrinking of Himalayan glaciers means the entire water system is being disrupted - global warming, he says, will cause even greater extremes.

Himalayas
The Himalayan glaciers are said to be shrinking
"Statistically, it is proven that the Himalayan glaciers are actually shrinking, and within 50 to 60 years they will virtually run out of producing the water levels that we are seeing now.

"This will cut down drastically the water available downstream, and in agricultural economies like the plains of UP (Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar, which are poor places to begin with. This is probably going to, over a short period of time, cause tremendous social upheaval," he says.

Not everyone agrees. Some scientists say the glaciers have been shrinking for decades and other factors are to blame.

Certainly, India has a long history of extreme weather patterns - and extremes of temperature across the continent. So is it too simplistic to blame global warming just because recent floods and droughts have been acute?

West blamed

Dr RR Kelkar, the director general of the Indian meteorological department, says it is too early for accurate data to be available yet.

"India is a tropical country, we must remember that. We are used to hot environments, we are used to heavy rains, we are used to cyclones, and really there is no clear statistically significant trend that things are going to change drastically.

Drought-hit Rajasthan
India suffers acute water shortages
"There is a need now for scientists to probe into them and find out how they will be affecting us - but one of the problems is that these models are sometimes converted into scary stories which is something we shouldn't fall for," Dr Kelkar says.

Scary stories or not, there are also concerns that knowledge being gathered about the impact of global warming is controlled by the West.

Scientists in the subcontinent do not always have the resources available to challenge data being compiled by developed countries.

Professor SK Sinha is a specialist at the water technology centre at the Pusa Institute. He accuses the West, and in particular the United States, of manipulating the debate.

"They make the rules. In fact, they even lure people from the developing countries to substantiate or to confirm that data, not necessarily always with very valid equipments and arguments," he says.

Cyclones, floods and droughts aren't in themselves new - but how much is global warming likely to worsen them, and how far will countries like India be able to influence the global debate?

BBC Reports that Beer Technology Used to Monitor Water Quality in Water Treatment Plants.

From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3753162.stm

Beer Technology used to check for diluted beer in kegs returned to breweries could soon be used to monitor water quality in water treatment plants.

A new technique developed by an Irish firm determines how "dirty" water is by analysing the colours in the light reflected from it.

The AquaPod could save money by cutting the chemicals needed to clean up water.

A similar device used in breweries is important because returned beer kegs can result in refunds for publicans.


It is put in a box, acts like a web server and can be controlled from an operator's desk
Eon O'Mongáin, Spectral Signatures
Breweries do not want to pay out for tap water that some unscrupulous landlord might have added to a barrel just to make its contents look greater than they really are.

In and out

Previously, examining if the beer inside was diluted or not would have required a painstaking chemical analysis of each sample.

But the Spectral Signatures instrument provided a quicker alternative that simply involved shining light on the dregs and measuring its spectral profile to decipher the contents.

Recently, the firm applied for a patent for a device it calls AquaPod, which is designed specifically to monitor water quality.

Its uses range from checking the incoming water quality at drinking water plants to examining the content of sewerage inflows or outflows.

The main advantage of having a remote instrument is that, regardless of how dirty the water is, the instrument will not be fouled up - a problem that can befall analytical instruments that need to be immersed in fluids.

Lower costs

The AquaPod is mounted above the water. It determines what is in the water by measuring the colour spectrum of light reflected.

Water molecules, H2O, show a peak in the spectrum in the infrared, just past where the eye can see.

This never changes, so the instrument is calibrated by the water molecules themselves. The change in the light due to other dissolved materials is seen by comparison with the water.

These materials include organic molecules, such as phosphates, nitrates and proteins.

They all produce the same colour, which is why many liquids look brown. It is these dissolved materials that give, for example, beer and urine their brownish colour.

Aquapod also looks for suspended matter in the water, which can be anything from sand and dirt to faeces. This material scatters the light and makes the water appear cloudy.

Measuring just how much dissolved and suspended material there is determines how dirty the water is and how much processing is required.

In water treatment plants, dirty water clogs up filters if there is too much suspended matter. Excess dissolved matter means the colour of the water will be brown and this colour needs to be removed to make it palatable.

This is done by adding chemicals such as aluminium or iron salts. Minimising the use of chemicals is better for the water drinkers and also for company costs. And knowing the colour of the incoming water and therefore the amount of dissolved material should cut these costs.

On trial

"AquaPod is essentially a laboratory spectrometer brought out into the open and made robust enough to keep working in all weathers," said Spectral Signatures director Dr Eon O'Mongáin.

"It is put in a box, acts like a web server and can be controlled from an operator's desk."

The company previously developed and patented a product called ChlorFlow which is used by the UK's Environment Agency for monitoring chlorophyll levels in English coastal waters.

A build-up of chlorophyll in the water, which is caused by too much nitrogen coming off the land, can kill off fish by depleting the oxygen in the water they need to breathe.

It can also lead to large, smelly algal blooms being deposited on beaches. It has been known for bulldozers to be called in to remove large piles of horrible gunge from a beach.

The accuracy of the AquaPod is now being tested against traditional sampling methods at a water treatment plant in Dublin.

International Environmental Threats

International environmental threats today are more problematic than those in the past, as a consequence of growing industrialization in the developing world. This growth has been responsible for increasing the standard of living for many of the world’s poor. However, it has also been accompanied by a concomitant swelling of population. These two factors have had many negative effects on the environment, including global warming, increased pressure on natural resources - consisting of the destruction of forests and increased waste from mining – as well as a concomitant expansion of water pollution, air pollution, water scarcity and desertification.
For example, the forests of tropical Asia are among the most threatened on earth. The relative rates of tropical deforestation have been about twice as high in Asia (0.8–0.9% per year) than in either Latin America or Africa (0.4–0.5% per year). Southeast Asia has also suffered higher rates of industrial logging than the other major tropical regions across the world. Dam building for hydropower generation, to provide electricity to those who heretofore have not had access to power, has also caused massive problems.
Due to their impact on human health and the environment these international problems today are more than ever critical issues within the legal academy, the political branches of many governments and society in general. These problems however do not stop at the borders of individual states, which of course, do not coincide with natural systems. Rather, they are a transboundary phenomena. Indeed, one expert recently observed that “[i]t is now recognized that the planet faces a diverse and growing range of environmental challenges which can only be addressed through international co-operation. Acid rain, ozone depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, toxic and hazardous products and wastes, pollution of rivers and depletion of fresh water resources, are some of the issues which international law is being called upon to address.”
Transboundary environmental problems pose unique difficulties for international law and international legal institutions. Some of these environmental problems include the technical and/or scientific complexity of pollution, water scarcity and allocation; lack of information regarding how natural systems work; and the impact on future generations. Moreover, the transnational environmental problematic incorporates the involvement or overtones of various and dissimilar domestic laws, political regimes, cultural features, and diverse priorities. Finally, one question that confronts national Supreme Courts and international courts and tribunals is how to be disciplined enough to develop a normative framework for adjudicating underground and surface water problems.

Bin Laden blasts US for Climate Change

Here's something that both the Dems and Republicans can probably chuckle about together and possibly agree upon. Osama bin Laden is blaming the U.S. for Climate Change. Of course, the SOB leaves out India and China, as well as his family's construction company (The bin Laden Group). The latter is one of the largest builders of refineries in the world. Just, accept America, you can't do any good!

The ensuing article was published today in the Washington Post. The link is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012901463.html

Bin Laden blasts US for Climate Change

By LEE KEATH and SALAH NASRAWI
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 30, 2010; 2:24 AM

CAIRO -- Osama bin Laden sought to draw a wider public into his fight against the United States in a new message Friday, dropping his usual talk of religion and holy war and focusing instead on an unexpected topic: global warming.

The al-Qaida leader blamed the United States and other industrialized nations for climate change and said the only way to prevent disaster was to break the American economy, calling on the world to boycott U.S. goods and stop using the dollar.

"The effects of global warming have touched every continent. Drought and deserts are spreading, while from the other floods and hurricanes unseen before the previous decades have now become frequent," bin Laden said in the audiotape, aired on the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera.

The terror leader noted Washington's rejection of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and painted the United States as in the thrall of major corporations that he said "are the true criminals against the global climate" and are to blame for the global economic crisis, driving "tens of millions into poverty and unemployment."

Bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders have mentioned global warming and struck an anti-globalization tone in previous tapes and videos. But the latest was the first message by bin Laden solely dedicated to the topic. It was also nearly entirely empty of the Islamic militant rhetoric that usually fills his declarations.

The change in rhetoric aims to give al-Qaida's message an appeal beyond hardcore Islamic militants, said Evan Kohlmann, of globalterroralert.com, a private, U.S.-based terrorism analysis group.
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"It's a bridge issue," Kohlmann said. "They are looking to appeal to people who don't necessarily love al-Qaida but who are angry at the U.S. and the West, to galvanize them against the West" and make them more receptive to "alternative solutions like adopting violence for the cause."

"If you're looking to draw people who are disenchanted or disillusioned, what better issue to use than global warming," he said. While the focus on climate may be new, the tactic itself is not, he said: Al-Qaida used issues like the abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay to reach out to Muslims who might not be drawn to al-Qaida's ideology but are angry over the injustices.

Bin Laden "looks to see the issues that are the most cogent and more likely to get popular support," Kohlmann said.

The al-Qaida leader's call for an economic boycott helps in the appeal - providing a nonviolent way to participate in opposing the United States.

"People of the world, it's not right for the burden to be left on the mujahedeen (holy warriors) in an issue that causes harm to everyone," he said. "Boycott them to save yourselves and your possessions and your children from climate change and to live proud and free."

Al-Jazeera aired excerpts of the message and posted a transcript on its Web site. The tape's authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but the voice resembled that of bin Laden on messages known to be from him. The new message comes after a bin Laden tape released last week in which he endorsed a failed attempt to blow up an American airliner on Christmas Day.

Maybe the Supreme Court's decision in United Citizens v FEC, the 2010 decision that stands for the proposition that corporations have unfettered right to spend as much money as they want to "express" their free speech, and influence politics, will nopw give bin Laden the opportunity to influence U.S. politics.

Rights to Drinking Water

In 1992 Stephen McCaffrey authored a seminal article proposing a human right to water. In the intervening years a stream of scholarship affirming the right has followed McCaffrey’s lead. Today, the existence of a human right to water is seldom challenged and it now appears to be well rooted in international human rights law. Nevertheless, to date there has been little to no scholarship about what the practical contours of the right should be.

If legal tools are to benefit the world’s poor and disenfranchised they cannot be void due to the impossibility of implementation. This is the problem with the purported human right to water. It is quixotic. International lawyers then must ferret out the means to provide those who have little or no access to potable water and proper sanitation with a suite of meaningful and workable legal options.

A. The Dilemma with the Right

There are two fundamental problems with the “right”. First it is unenforceable. Indeed, it is axiomatic that there can be no right without a remedy. Moreover, as Joseph Vining has observed, “[t]hat which evokes no sense of obligation is not law. It is only the appearance of law . . . .” Thus, the putative right is of little help or solace for those who have no access to potable water or the millions who die annually due to its privation.

Second, the rights scholars do not address how the issue of privatization of water utilities, especially the failure of corporate privatization and the comodification of water, should fall within the penumbra of the right. Indeed, these issues have yet to be addressed, leaving this area of the law unsettled and crammed with practical pitfalls.

A. The Enormity of the Problem
“Safe drinking water, sanitation and good hygiene are fundamental to health, survival, growth and development.” Accordingly, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) recently observed that “[s]afe drinking water and basic sanitation are so obviously essential to health that they risk being taken for granted.” Unless people gain access to sources of drinking water that are clean, safe and reliable “[e]fforts to prevent death from diarrhea or to reduce the burden of such diseases as ascaris, dracunculiasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis and trachoma are doomed to failure . . . .”
The problem is so pervasive that former South African President Thabo Mbeki recently asserted that “[w]e have a duty to fight against domestic and global apartheid in terms of access to water.” Indeed, the United Nations recently declared that “[o]vercoming the crisis in water and sanitation is one of the great human development challenges of the early 21st century. [In addition, s]uccess in addressing that challenge through a concerted national and international response would act as a catalyst for progress in public health . . . .”
Unfortunately, the average person in the developing world will not realize the universal availability of faucets or water piping at home “in the short – or even medium term.” Consequently, these people will be bereft of safe water for the foreseeable future. Of course, the burdens of polluted water, lack of access to potable water, as well as basic sanitation falls on the poor. Not only are they much “less likely to have access to safe water and sanitation, but they are also less likely to have the financial and human resources to manage the impact of this deprivation.”
Additionally, the poor are treated less equitably because the laws and policies of many states offer scant protection for the vulnerable. Even where these laws are on the books, they are seldom enforced. The rural poor also have little or no access to the political process, and comprise “[s]ome 80% of those who have no access to improved sources of drinking water.” Indeed, in 2002 the World Health Organization (“WHO”) estimated that more than 1.1 billion people worldwide lack clean drinking water and that “2.6 billion people have no sanitation . . . .” WHO also estimates that at least 1.8 million people die annually from diarrheal diseases (including cholera); with children below the age of five, mostly in developing countries, constituting 90% or 1.6 million of these deaths. This figure is five times the number of children who die annually from HIV/AIDS. Of the deaths caused by diarrhoeal disease, fully 88% are ascribed to unsafe water and deficient sanitation.

It is for these reasons that in 2003 WHO declared that the providing water to the peoples of the developing world was an urgent priority. Similarly, in 2000 the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals’ aim is to halve the number of people who do not have access to water by 2015. Nevertheless, without any financial support these programs have done little.

Finally, the “[l]ack of basic sanitation indirectly inhibits the learning abilities of millions of school-aged children who are infested with intestinal worms transmitted through inadequate sanitation facilities and poor hygiene.” It also adds to a higher rate of wasteful and unproductive time due to adult illness and the need to stay home taking care of children. If the world’s poor are to climb out of their morass, their status quo must change. One option for those who seek to aid these folk is privatization. There are of course problems with privatization. These include obstacles grounded in possible litigation before the World Trade Organization and national Supreme courts, as well as suspension in or from the practice of legal regimes, which provide water via public or privatized sources. In addition, those that use tanks to distribute water may also face actions to suspend these actions by corporate entities, who may claim that there rights are being infringed upon. These corporations may seek indemnification for loss of profits.